It is often necessary to direct traffic around highway, bridge, and other construction sites through the use of one or more temporary or permanent barriers. Conventionally, barriers are made of concrete and may be fabricated on site, or they may be prefabricated as individual modules and later moved to a site.
The use of concrete barrier modules known as “Jersey barriers” are widespread and known to be both durable and heavy. The size and weight of Jersey barrier concrete modules is such that they may be placed directly upon most surfaces without requiring any additional anchoring to remain in place on the surface. The weight of the Jersey barrier modules, augmented by interconnecting other like modules together, provides inertial resistance and frictional resistance between their bases and the surface upon which they are placed.
Typically, a series of concrete Jersey barrier modules may be interconnected by a vertical tongue attachment with a vertical groove attachment located on opposite sides of each module. Another conventional way of interconnecting a series of Jersey barrier modules includes mechanical connections, such as nuts and bolts thru steel plates. These connections are often time consuming and unable to give upon an impact to one or more modules.
A distinctive disadvantage of concrete barrier modules is the inflexibility and rebounding characteristics of concrete. A vehicle impacting one or more of these concrete barrier modules, simply bounces off the rigid barrier and spins out of control into adjacent vehicles or into the path of vehicles traveling in the same direction causing a chain reaction of accidents.
Additionally, conventional concrete barrier modules do not give way upon impact and therefore the passengers of the impacting vehicle are often injured from the abrupt deceleration caused by a collision with these modules. By not aiding in reducing deceleration forces upon vehicle passengers, serious injury or even death can result from a direct impact with a concrete barrier module.
In an attempt to address some of these concrete barrier module problems, impact dispersing or yielding semi-rigid barriers have become common in the art. Impact dispersing barriers include semi-rigid plastic barrels filled with energy absorbing substances such as sand or water that deform upon impact. By placing these semi-rigid barriers around concrete barriers and other solid structures the deceleration forces may be dissipated upon impact. However, once deformed from an impact, the energy absorbing substances may erupt out of the semi-rigid plastic barrels and obscure the windshields of other traffic resulting in further collisions.
Another common form of impact dispersing barrier may be constructed from discarded automobile tires stacked or arranged in various configurations to absorb the impact of colliding vehicles. Other impact dispersing barriers may be constructed from discarded automobile tires attached together in other configurations. Unfortunately, discarded tires represent a fire hazard and a considerable health hazard as a breeding ground for pests.
Other attempts of forming impact dispersing barriers include the “Drew barrier” which is made from discarded tire pieces and a non-recyclable plastic material which are placed around a cage frame and into a mold. The contents of the mold are then cured to produce the Drew barrier. The Drew barrier also suffers disadvantages. For example, upon a harsh impact the barrier will become damaged, by a tear of the exterior side wall, or skin, around the center cage. It is very likely that an impacting vehicle will merely rip off the outside skin of the barrier and ricochet into traffic to cause further collisions.
Another attempt of forming an impact dispersing barrier comes from the Rubber vehicular impact barrier described in European Patent number 0639674, filed Aug. 15, 1994 by Baatz et al. However, this barrier has no opening on the bottom of the barrier for water to pass through, contributing to rain water accumulation on roads employing this barrier. Another disadvantage results from wire used in its construction that can be exposed creating an unsafe and risky scenario if the barrier is broken or damaged in an accident.
Therefore, a need exists for novel recycled tire rubber barrier modular systems that are able to aid in reducing deceleration forces upon a vehicle impacting with a barrier. There also exists a need for novel recycled tire rubber barrier modular systems that do not represent a fire hazard or a health hazard as a breeding ground for pests. There is a further need for novel recycled tire rubber barrier modular systems that will not expose dangerous materials such as sharp metal wire when damaged by an impact with a vehicle. Finally, there exists a need for novel recycled tire rubber barrier modular systems that will not contribute to rain water accumulation on roads employing a barrier.